The IDF confirmed the deployment of Iron Dome missile defense batteries in the
North on Sunday, amid an escalation in the Syrian civil war and concerns over
Syria’s sizeable chemical weapons falling into radical Islamic hands.

An
army spokesman confirmed that batteries had been deployed to the North,
including one in the Haifa area, but claimed the move was
“routine.”

Syrian President Bashar Assad is in possession of large
quantities of deadly Sarin and mustard gas compounds, as well as VX nerve
agents.

Some of the compounds can be affixed to Scud missiles as chemical
warheads. The chemicals can also be placed in specialized artillery shells, or
dropped from the air.

The
fighting came as United Nations humanitarian chief Valerie Amos visited Syria
ahead of a UN aid conference which aims to raise $1.5 billion for the millions
of people made homeless, hungry and vulnerable by the 22-month-old conflict,
which the UN says has killed 60,000 people.

Defense officials have noted
in recent months that the crumbling of Syria presents a formidable threat to
national, regional and global security, a threat that is developing right on
Israel’s doorstep.

The presence of disorganized armed militias – some of
them affiliated with hardline Islamistjihadi movements – in a land that hosts
what some analysts consider the largest number of chemical weapons in the world
creates a clear danger, according to officials. The concern is that rebel
fanatical elements or Assad’s close ally, Hezbollah, may try to raid chemical
weapons storage facilities.